Third-party application control of devices in an iot platform

ABSTRACT

In embodiments a computing device receives a selection of a device template associated with a physical device. The computing device receives a selection of a third-party device type associated with a third-party system. The computing device determines a device rule template associated with the device type, the device rule template comprising a first mapping between one or more commands and one or more additional device properties in the device type. The computing device determines a second mapping between the one or more additional device properties and one or more device properties in the device template. The computing device generates an adapter template comprising the first mapping between the one or more commands and the one or more additional device properties and the second mapping between the one or more additional device properties and the one or more device properties.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/483,791, filed Apr. 10, 2017, whichis herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Many modern appliances, consumer devices, and other devices includeembedded systems that are configured to perform one or more dedicatedfunctions. However, most embedded systems of such devices do not includenetworking capabilities, role based access control capabilities, remoteinterface capabilities, remote control capabilities, or relatedcapabilities. Designing such functionality into an embedded system,designing application programming interfaces (APIs) for accessing suchfunctionality, designing web services capable of communicating with andcontrolling the embedded system via this added functionality, anddesigning applications for taking advantage of this functionality canconsume considerable resources of the device manufacturer.

As the support of devices with embedded systems has gained adoption, thefragmentation of services provided by networking providers for thesedevices has dramatically increased. For example “vertical” providers maylimit their support to a single device type. Similarly, “horizontal”providers may support multiple devices but require proprietary interfaceprotocols. A device manufacturer that would like to provide networkingaccess to their device using more than a single networking platform maybe faced with having to support multiple applications and/or systems,each with its own interface requirements. This can place a heavy burdenon a manufacturer to expend significant resources in order to supportconnectivity via a variety of networking platforms and third-partyservices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings showing exampleembodiments of the present application, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an example network architectureincluding remotely accessible devices and virtual devices for theremotely accessible devices, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting control of a device via athird-party voice control system, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram depicting an interaction between a user anda connected device using a third-party application, in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates an example third party device type, in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates an example device template, in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4C illustrates an example device rule template, in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4D illustrates an example adapter template, in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4E is a block diagram depicting template relationships, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of a graphical user interface for generatingadapter templates, in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment for a method ofgenerating an adapter template;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment for a method ofusing an adapter template to control a device; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing devicehaving installed thereon instructions for an adapter service, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments are directed to a network-connected device platform (alsoreferred to as an internet-of-things (IoT) cloud platform or simply anIoT platform) having an agile templating framework that provides aflexible and unified interface to multiple third-party services acrossmultiple connected physical devices. A connected device has manyproperties that can be controlled by a user and many properties (alsoreferred to as attributes) that are used for monitoring and datacollection purposes. The set of properties for a device varies based onthe type of device, the model and the firmware it runs. These propertiesconstitute the physical model of the device that is hardware andfirmware dependent. In addition, the device has various behavioralcharacteristics that the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) candefine that are independent of hardware or firmware considerations. Someexamples of these characteristics are alerts that are to be sent whencertain device events happen, roles that have access to the device, andthe method to be used for registering the device to a user account.These behaviors may be controlled by a cloud server and can vary at anypoint during the lifecycle of a device.

An OEM may wish to provide users with the ability to control theirconnected devices using a variety of different third-party servicesand/or networking platforms rather than restrict them to a single methodof control. In conventional implementations, users are often expected touse multiple applications or third-party cloud services to controldifferent connected devices that they own. For example, a user may own avariable speed fan and a thermostat that are both network enabled, buteach requiring different applications or third-party services to controlremotely. Similarly, the user's fan may work with one voice activatedintelligent assistant, but the thermostat may only work with a differentassistant that the user does not have. The number of third-partyservices and applications that are now available to consumers places theburden on OEM's to devote significant resources to accommodate theinterfaces for multiple third-party services in order to provide themost robust product for their customers.

Aspects of the present disclosure address the problems that arise whenproviding control access for connected devices through multiplethird-party services as well as the problems that arise when providingcontrol access to multiple different connected devices through a singlethird-party service. By adopting a flexible templating framework thatcan translate properties and behaviors between the OEM's view of thedevice and the third-party service's view of the device, the platformdescribed herein can provide end users with the ability to interact withall of their connected devices through a single interface, regardless ofthe manufacturer of the device. Additionally, the platform can providean OEM with a flexible framework for providing access to their productsthrough any third-party application or service without placing a burdenupon the OEM to devote development resources to facilitate thecommunication.

In one embodiment, a device template manager receives a device templatefor an OEM device that describes the properties (attributes) of thedevice as well as actions that may be performed on the device. Thedevice template manager may then identify a compatible third-partydevice type that describes property values and behaviors for that devicethat are supported by the third-party service. The device templatemanager may then identify a device rule template that specifies thedevice state transition rules for the device that are supported by thethird-party service, and subsequently generate an “adapter template”that creates an association between the OEM's property values andbehaviors for the device and the third-party service's correspondingproperty values and behaviors.

In one embodiment, a processing device receives a selection of a devicetemplate associated with a physical device, wherein the device templatecomprises one or more device properties of the physical device. Theprocessing device further receives a selection of a third-party devicetype associated with a third-party system, wherein the third-partydevice type comprises one or more additional device properties of thethird-party system that correspond to the one or more device propertiesof the physical device. The processing device determines a device ruletemplate associated with the device type, the device rule templatecomprising a first mapping between one or more commands and the one ormore additional device properties. The processing device furtherdetermines a second mapping between the one or more additional deviceproperties and the one or more device properties. The processing devicethen generates an adapter template that comprises the second mappingbetween the one or more additional device properties and the one or moredevice properties. The adapter template may further comprise the one ormore device properties, the one or more additional device properties,and/or the first mapping between the one or more commands and the one ormore additional device properties.

An adapter service component of the framework may use the adaptertemplate to facilitate communication between the third-party service andthe OEM device. An end user may submit a command to control the deviceto the third-party service using the commands and/or settings supportedby the third-party service. The third-party service may then send thatinformation to the adapter service, which may then translate theinformation from the third-party into a form recognized by the OEMdevice using an adapter template generated for that device and performthe appropriate actions to control the device based on the user'scommands.

Referring now to the figures, FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting anexample network architecture 100 including remotely accessible devices135A-C and computing devices 105, 125A, 125B that interact with theremotely accessible devices 135A-C. The network architecture 100includes the multiple devices 135A-C connected to a local area network(LAN) 165. Thus, the devices 135A-C may be referred to asnetwork-connected devices.

In one embodiment, the devices 135A-C are devices with embedded systems150A-C, and may include, for example, electrical appliances such asvariable rotation speed fans, refrigerators, ovens, washers, driers,dishwashers, thermostats, alarms, air conditioners, televisions, radios,receivers, amplifiers, and so forth. The devices 135A-C may also includeconsumer devices such as digital watches, music players, game consoles,digital cameras, printers, and so forth. Other examples of devices135A-C include stationary devices such as HVAC systems, traffic lights,factory controllers, signs, electronic billboards, sprinkler systems,and irrigation control systems, as well as medical devices. The embeddedsystems 150A-C may also be referred to as network-connected devices.Devices 135A-C may also be any other type of device that includes anembedded system. Alternatively, one or more devices 135A-C may notinclude an embedded system.

An embedded system 150A-C is a class of computing device that isembedded into another device as one component of the device. The device135A-C typically also includes other hardware, electrical and/ormechanical components that may interface with the embedded system150A-C. Embedded systems 150A-C are typically configured to handle aparticular task or set of tasks, for which the embedded systems 150A-Cmay be optimized. Accordingly, the embedded systems 150A-C may have aminimal cost and size as compared to general computing devices.

The embedded systems 150A-C may each include a communication module (notshown) that enables the embedded system 150A-C (and thus the device135A-C) to connect to LAN 165 or to a wireless carrier network (e.g.,that is implemented using various data processing equipment,communication towers, etc.). The communication module may be configuredto manage security, manage sessions, manage access control, managecommunications with external devices, and so forth.

In one embodiment, the communication module is configured to communicateusing Wi-Fi®. Alternatively, the communication module may be configuredto communicate using Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Internet Protocol version 6over Low power Wireless Area Networks (6LowPAN), power linecommunication (PLC), Ethernet (e.g., 10 Megabyte (Mb), 100 Mb and/or 1Gigabyte (Gb) Ethernet) or other communication protocols. If thecommunication module is configured to communicate with a wirelesscarrier network, then the communication module may communicate usingGlobal Systems for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code-Division MultipleAccess (CDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS), 3GPPLong Term Evaluation (LTE), Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess (WiMAX), or any other second generation wireless telephonetechnology (2G), third generation wireless telephone technology (3G),fourth generation wireless telephone technology (4G) or other wirelesstelephone technology.

The LAN 165 includes a router, switch, bridge or other network device(not shown) that enables communication between multiple devicesconnected to the LAN 165. The network device may provide wiredconnections to the LAN using, for example, Ethernet ports, universalserial bus (USB) ports and/or Firewire® ports. The network device mayadditionally provide wireless connections to the LAN using, for example,a Wi-Fi transceiver.

Some embedded systems 150A-C may not support any of the communicationtypes supported by the network device. For example, device 135C maysupport Zigbee, and device 135B may support Bluetooth. To enable suchdevices to connect to the LAN 165, the LAN 165 may include a gatewaydevice 190 connected to the network device via one of the connectiontypes supported by the network device (e.g., via Ethernet or Wi-Fi). Thegateway device 190 may additionally support other communicationprotocols such as Zigbee, PLC and/or Bluetooth, and may translatebetween supported communication protocols. Accordingly, some devices(e.g., device 135C) may connect to the LAN 165 and/or to the WAN 170through the gateway device 190.

The LAN 165 (or wireless carrier) is connected to a wide area network(WAN) 170. The WAN 170 may be a private WAN (e.g., an intranet) or apublic WAN such as the Internet, or may include a combination of aprivate and public network. The LAN 165 may include a router and/ormodem (e.g., a cable modem, a direct serial link (DSL) modem, aWorldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX®) modem, a longterm evolution (LTE®) modem, etc.) that provides a connection to the WAN170.

The WAN 170 may include or connect to one or more server computingdevices 125A-B. The server computing devices 125A-B may include physicalmachines and/or virtual machines hosted by physical machines. Thephysical machines may be rackmount servers, desktop computers, or othercomputing devices. In one embodiment, the server computing devices125A-B include virtual machines managed and provided by a cloud providersystem. Each virtual machine offered by a cloud service provider may behosted on a physical machine configured as part of a cloud. Suchphysical machines are often located in a data center. The cloud providersystem and cloud may be provided as an infrastructure as a service(IaaS) layer. One example of such a cloud is Amazon's® Elastic ComputeCloud (EC2®).

Server computing device 125A hosts one or more WAN accessible services130, which may be a web based service and/or a cloud service (e.g., aweb based service hosted in a cloud computing platform). A WANaccessible service 130 may maintain a session (e.g., via a continuous orintermittent connection) with one or more of the embedded systems150A-C. Alternatively, the WAN accessible service 130 may periodicallyestablish sessions with the embedded systems 150A-C. Sessions andconnections may be between a virtual device 185A-C running on the servercomputing device 130 and the devices 135A-C.

Via a session with an embedded system 150A-C (or device 135A-C), WANaccessible service 130 may use an appropriate virtual device 185A-C toissue commands to the embedded system (or device 135A-C) and/or receivestatus updates from the embedded system (or device 135A-C). Thus, thevirtual device 185A-C may be used to control the device 135A-C. Thecommands may be commands to change a state of one or more parameters ofa device controllable by the embedded system. For example, if theembedded system is embedded in a heater or thermostat, then the commandsmay include commands to increase or decrease a temperature. In anotherexample, if the embedded system is embedded in a home automation system,then the commands may include commands to turn lights on or off. Inanother example, if the embedded system is embedded in a variablerotation speed fan, then the commands may include commands to increaseor decrease the fan speed.

Status updates received from the embedded systems 150A-C may identifyvalues or states of some or all detectable parameters of devices 135A-Cthat the embedded systems are included in. Status updates may alsoinclude fault information, statistical device usage information, tracedata and/or other information. Such values, states and/or otherinformation may change based on direct user interaction with thedevices. Such values, states and/or other information may also changeresponsive to commands sent to the embedded systems 150A-C by the WANaccessible service 130 and/or by computing devices 105 via anappropriate virtual device 185A-C. Moreover, values, states and otherinformation of the embedded systems 150A-C may change based onenvironmental conditions of the embedded systems. By maintaining orperiodically establishing sessions with the embedded systems 150A-C, theWAN accessible services 130 may maintain up-to-date information on thedevices 135A-C, and such up-to-date information may be reflected in avirtual device 185A-C.

Computing devices 105 may generate commands for the embedded systems150A-C. Computing devices 105 may include portable devices such aselectronic book readers, portable digital assistants, mobile phones,laptop computers, portable media players, tablet computers, cameras,video cameras, netbooks, notebooks, and the like. Computing devices 105may also include traditionally stationary devices such as desktopcomputers, gaming consoles, digital video disc (DVD) players, mediacenters, and the like. Computing devices 105 may also include devicescapable of receiving voice commands such as intelligent assistantdevices that may interface with home networks. In some implementations,computing devices 105 may include smart home assistant devices such asAmazon Echo®, Google Home®, Apple HomePod®, or the like.

In some implementations, computing devices 105 may include a remotecontrol application (or multiple remote control applications) 115Aprovided by a third-party provider to receive information for devices135A-C and submit commands to control the devices 135A-C. Alternatively,or additionally, computing devices 105 may interface with a third partyservice 162 that includes a remote control application 115B to receiveinformation for devices 135A-C and/or to submit commands to control thedevices 135A-C. For example, a computing device 105 may receive voicedata from a user and send the voice data to a third-party service 162 ofserver computing device(s) 125B. Third party service 162 may performspeech processing operations to convert the voice data into text data,and may determine a command from the text data. The command may specifya particular device 135A-C and an action to perform on the device135A-C, which may cause property values of one or more properties of thedevice 135A-C to change. In some embodiments, the remote controlapplication 115A is configured to interface with one or more third-partyservices 162. In some implementations, remote control application 115Amay provide an interface to intelligent personal assistant services(e.g., third-party services 162) such as Amazon Alexa®, Apple Siri®,Google Assistant®, or the like. In some implementations, remote controlapplication 115A may provide an interface to an intelligent homeassistant framework that monitors and controls various connected deviceswithin the home such as Apple Home®, Xfinity Home®, and/or commercialhome security monitoring systems.

The remote control application 115A may be programmed to run on variousoperating systems, such as Windows® operating systems, Unix® operatingsystems, iOS® operating systems, Android® operating systems and Java®operating systems to name a few. The remote control application 115A mayalso be configured as firmware, or as hardware, or as some combinationof software, firmware and/or hardware. In some embodiments, the remotecontrol application 115A may include a graphical user interface (GUI)that enables users to interact with and control devices 135A-C in anintuitive and user-friendly manner. A user may interact with the GUI tocause the remote control application 115A to obtain the state of, andsend commands to, the devices 135A-C represented in the GUI.

Server computing devices 125B include one or more third-party services162. Third-party services 162 may be services provided by entities otherthan a provider of an IoT platform that includes WAN accessible services130. Third-party services 162 may be associated with the third-partyentity that supports computing devices 105 and/or remote controlapplication 115A. Alternatively, or additionally, third-party services162 may include an intelligent personal assistant service such as AmazonAlexa®, Apple Siri®, Google Assistant®, or the like. The third-partyservices 162 may additionally or alternatively include a hosted servicethat provides an interface to a remote control application (e.g., remotecontrol application 115), a hosted service that provides an interface toa home security system, or the like. As shown, server computing devices125B may connect to server computing device 125A directly or via WAN170.

In some implementations, third-party services 162 may maintainparticular properties and/or communication protocols that may be used tocommunicate with and otherwise control compatible connected devices135A-C. For example, to control a variable rotation speed fan using avoice command via computing device 105, third-party services 162 maysupport particular voice commands (e.g. “increase fan speed by 25percent”), and apply the use of an application program interface (API)that supports particular property values for devices settings. Forexample, if a user issues a voice command to “increase fan speed by 25percent,” third-party services may specify that the value “25” is sentto the service supporting the device.

In some implementations, the properties and commands supported bythird-party services 162 may not be directly compatible with theproperties and commands supported by WAN accessible services 130 or bythe devices 135A-C. For example, third-party services 162 may maintainfan speed properties of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100, whereas an OEM vendorfor a fan may support fan speed properties of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. In oneembodiment, WAN accessible services 130 includes a template manager 126and a virtual device manager 128 to facilitate transformation of devicetemplate properties and command behaviors between third-party services162 and devices 135A-C. The template manager 126 creates, modifies andotherwise manages a pool of device templates. Template manager 126 maygenerate and/or modify device templates without users performing anyprogramming. In one embodiment, template manager 126 provides a userinterface (e.g., a graphical user interface) that enables users toeasily define device properties in a device template. Template manager126 may receive a base device template associated with a device 135A-C,identify a device type associated with a supported third-party service,and generate an adapter template that provides a translation mapping ofproperty values and behaviors between the third-party service and theOEM device.

Each device template defines one or more properties for a device 135A-C.The properties may be physical attributes that are hard wired, hardcoded or manufactured into the device 135A-C as well as logicalattributes that may include business logic such as behaviors,notifications, rules, access control, derived properties, and so on forthe device. Examples of physical attributes include sensors and sensorcapabilities, input devices (e.g., buttons) and operations of the inputdevices, output devices (e.g., speakers, a display, etc.) and operationsof the output devices, servos and servo settings, motors and motorsettings, and so forth. Physical attributes may additionally includecapabilities, behaviors, characteristics, etc. of firmware and/orsoftware that is loaded into the devices 135A-C (e.g., into embeddedsystems 150A-C) in the devices.

Each device template may additionally define one or more logical orbehavioral attributes for a device 135A-C. Logical attributes (alsoreferred to as behavioral attributes) may include business logic such asbehaviors, notifications, rules, access control, derived properties, andso forth that may not be programmed into a device. The logicalattributes may instead be provided by a virtual device 185A-C on behalfof a physical device 135A-C. For example, a fan may have fan speed setpoints and controls for changing the fan speed set points. A virtualdevice established for the fan may include a rule stating that the fanspeed may only be increased in increments of 10 percent. The virtualdevice may change the speed set point internally and may send a commandto the physical device to change the set point to the selected speed onthe physical device. In this example, the fan speed set point and thecontrols usable to set the fan speed set point would be consideredphysical attributes of the physical device, and the rule for controllingthe set point would be considered a logical attribute assigned to thephysical device.

The template manager 126 additionally associates templates to devices135A-C. In one embodiment, template manager 126 associates each type ofdevice with a particular template or combination of templates. A devicetype may include a particular manufacturer (OEM), a particular modelnumber and/or a particular version number (e.g., a firmware versionnumber). Thus, different templates may be used based on manufacturer,device model and/or firmware version.

The template manager 126 may additionally generate and maintainthird-party device type templates, device rule templates and/or adaptertemplates. A third-party device type template may represent anabstraction of a device template, and may include properties of a deviceas understood or used by a third-party system. A device rules templatemay represent the allowable states of a device, actions that may beperformed on the device, and rules for transitioning between the variousstates of the device (from the perspective of the third-party systemand/or from the perspective of the device and/or OEM of the device). Anadapter template may include data from one or more of the devicetemplate, third-party device type template and/or device rule template,and may be configured for a combination of a specific device andthird-party system.

Virtual device manager 128 generates an instance of a virtual device185A-C for each physical device 135A-C. The physical devices 135A-C mayeach have the same device type or may have different device types fromthe same or different manufacturers. For example, a separate virtualdevice 185A-C may be created for each unit of a particular product of anOEM. Each virtual device 185A-185C is generated from one or a set ofdevice templates. The created virtual device 185A-C inherits deviceproperties (e.g., logical and physical attributes) from each of thedevice templates used to create the virtual device. The virtual device185A-C is then connected to a particular physical device 135A-C (e.g.,to an embedded system 150A-C of a particular physical device 135A-C),and may be used to monitor, interface with, and control that physicaldevice.

As noted above, the properties and behaviors for the device may not bedirectly compatible with the properties and behaviors supported bythird-party services 162. Template manager 126 may use the informationfrom the device template for the device as well as information from athird-party device type associated with third-party services 162 togenerate an adapter template that facilitates compatible communicationbetween devices 135A-C and third-party services 162. An example ofmapping a device template and third-party device type to generate anadapter template is described below with respect to FIG. 4E and FIG. 6.

In some implementations, adapter service 131 uses an adapter template tofacilitate communication between the virtual devices 185A-C (and, inturn, the devices 135A-C) and the third-party services 162. Adapterservice 131 may additionally or alternatively use an adapter template tofacilitate communication between a first third party service thatinterfaces with a user and a second third party service that interfaceswith a device 135A-C in instances where WAN accessible services 130 donot interface with the device 135A-C. Adapter service 131 may receivecommands from third-party services 162, and use the translationinformation in the adapter template described above to translate acommand received from third party services 162 to a set of behaviorsand/or property settings compatible with devices 135A-C that can beprovided to virtual devices 185A-C.

Virtual devices 185A-C may interface with adapter service 131 on behalfof associated physical devices 135A-C. Virtual devices 185A-C mayinterface with the adapter service 131 to obtain information usable toupdate the devices. Additionally, virtual devices 185A-C may interfacewith the adapter service 131 to provide notifications and informationabout physical devices 135A-C. The virtual devices 185A-C may thenformat the commands into a protocol used by associated physical devices185A-C and/or generate new commands in such a protocol. The virtualdevices 185A-C may then send the new or modified commands to associatedphysical devices 135A-C (e.g., via the devices' embedded systems 150A-C)to control the physical devices 135A-C.

In some implementations, adapter templates may maintain the variousstate transition rules for the associated device 135A-C, such as in theform of a state data structure. Additionally or alternatively, eachvirtual device 185A-C may maintain a separate state machine for itsassociated device 135A-C. The state data structure of an adaptertemplate for a device 135A-C may be constructed using a domain specificlanguage in embodiments. The state data structure may be more than asimple table, and may include, for example, multiple rules that governstate transitions. In one embodiment, an instance of the adapter service131 may be instantiated for each device 135A-C that is configured tocommunicate with third-party services 162. The state data structure mayreceive state settings from the associated virtual device 185A-C, andaccess the state transition rules associated with the third-party devicetype in order to determine the appropriate changes to device state andupdate of device attributes.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a network architecture 200 depictingcontrol of a device 235 via a third-party voice control system 262, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The networkarchitecture 200 includes a user device 205, a server computing device225, a server computing device 210, a server computing device 228 and adevice 235.

User device 205 may be a voice controlled device such as an Amazon Echo,a Google Home or an Apple HomePod. The user device 205 may also be amobile device such as a mobile phone that includes a voice commandapplication installed thereon. The user device 205 receives voice data208 and sends (e.g., streams) the voice data 208 to server computingdevice 225. Server computing device 225 includes a voice control system262 such as Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, and so on. Thevoice control system 262 performs speech processing on the voice data208 to convert the voice data 208 into text data that is representativeof the voice data. The voice control system 262 additionally determinesa user intent from the text data, where the user intent includes anidentification of device 235 and an action to perform on the device 235.

Voice control system 262 generates a first command 232 that comprises aninstruction to change a property of the device 235. The first command232 may have a format that conforms to a data model of the voice controlsystem, and may refer to the device using a first property and a firstproperty value for the first property. In embodiments, the first commandincludes an identification of one or more properties used by the voicecontrol system 262 to represent the device and one or more new propertyvalues for the one or more properties. However, the device 235 may notbe able to update based on the first command 232 because the device 235may use a second data model and may be controllable by commands having asecond format that conforms to the second data model. Accordingly,server computing device 225 may send the first command 232 to servercomputing device 210.

Server computing device 210 includes one or more WAN accessible services210, which include an adapter service 231 and a virtual device 285.Adapter service 231 may include or have access to an adapter template288 that was created for translating commands and data between the firstformat and data model usable by voice control system 262 and the secondformat and data model usable by device 235 and/or by virtual device 285.The adapter template may include a first mapping of first commands tofirst actions on one or more properties used by the voice control systemto represent device 235 and/or a second mapping of the first commands onthe one or more properties used by the voice control system to representthe device to second commands on one or more additional properties usedby the WAN accessible services 230 (e.g., by virtual device 285) torepresent the device 235. The adapter template may also include the oneor more properties and/or the one or more additional properties as wellas mappings between the one or more properties and the one or moreadditional properties.

Adapter template 288 may include the one or more state transition rulesthat may govern what new states the device may transition to based on acurrent state of the device and/or a command. Each state may includeproperty values for one or more properties of the device as used by thevoice control system and/or property values for one or more additionalproperties of the device as used by the device and/or the WAN accessibleservices 230. Adapter template 288 may additionally include one or moreproperties usable by the voice control system to represent the device,where each property may have a property type and one or more allowableproperty values. Each property may map to one or more commands in thestate transition rules. Additionally, a state transition rule may map acommand to particular property values and/or changes in property valuesof one or more properties. The adapter template 288 may define thephysical device 235 under control in terms of state machine elements,the state machine elements comprising a plurality of states, one or morerules that specify allowable transitions between the plurality ofstates, and one or more actions and/or commands that cause the physicaldevice to transition between the plurality of states.

In one embodiment, the adapter template 288 is a three level object thatencapsulates behavior of the physical device under control of the voicecontrol system 262 (or other third-party system) as a state machine. Thethree level object may include a template level represented by a firsttable, a command level represented by a second table comprising a firstplurality of rules associated with the voice control system (or otherthird-party system), and a property level represented by a third tablecomprising a second plurality of rules associated with an additionalservice (e.g., a WAN accessible service 230) that interfaces with thedevice 235.

Adapter service 231 uses the adapter template 288 to determine atranslation to translate the first command understood by the voicecontrol system 262 into a second command understood by the virtualdevice 285, a third-party device control system 264 and/or device 235.Adapter service 231 may then generate a second command 240 based on thetranslation. The second command may include an instruction to change aproperty value for one or more property of the device 235.

Adapter service 231 may send the second command 240 to virtual device285. Virtual device 285 may then update one or more properties of thevirtual device based on the second command 240. Virtual device 285 (oranother WAN accessible service 230) may send the second command 240 toserver computing device 228, which may host the third-party devicecontrol system 254. The device control system 264 may be, for example, acloud service provided by Nest® or another IoT device manufacturer. Thedevice control system 264 may then send the second command 240 on to thedevice 235 to update the one or more property of the device 235. In analternative implementation, virtual device 285 may send the secondcommand 240 to device 235, bypassing server computing device 228.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram depicting an interaction 300 between a userdevice 302 and a connected device using a third-party service, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. In anillustrative example, a user device 302 may receive a voice command froma user to set the speed percentage of a connected fan, and may send thevoice command to a third party service 304 (operation 316). The userdevice 302 may be connected to the third-party service 304 (e.g.,third-party service 162 of FIG. 1) that provides an intelligent personalassistant service that supports user device 302. In someimplementations, the third-party service 304 may authenticate the userby obtaining an authentication token before proceeding (operation 318).Third-party service 304 may forward the set percentage command throughone or more communication layers within the third-party service(operation 320) and subsequently forward the command to the servercomputing device 306 that hosts the WAN accessible service 312 (e.g.,WAN accessible service 130 of FIG. 1) that manages the connected device.

In some implementations, the command may be received by a communicationservice component 308 (operation 322), and validated with the WANaccessible service 312 before proceeding (operation 324). The commandmay then be sent to the adapter service 310 (e.g., adapter service 131of FIG. 1) (operation 326). As noted above, adapter service 310 may havebeen generated to incorporate a mapping of device attributes for the OEMfan manufacturer against those attributes supported by third-partyservice 304. Similarly, the adapter service 310 may include the commandbehaviors supported by the third-party service 304 and the correspondingdevice behaviors that may be executed to affect change in the connectedfan.

The adapter service 310 may first send a request to obtain access to thevirtual device associated with the connected device (operation 328).Once access to the virtual device has been successfully obtained(operation 330), the adapter service 310 may then send a request to thevirtual device 314 to obtain the current device state for the device(operation 332). Once the device state is obtained (operation 334) theadapter service 310 may then use the state machine logic and deviceproperty mappings stored in the adapter template to execute theappropriate behavior associated with the third-party service 304 toconduct the state transition for the fan (operation 336). This mayinclude generating a new command that corresponds to the originalcommand, but that has a different format that corresponds to a datamodel used by the OEM for the device.

For example, as noted above, the third-party service 304 may specifythat the fan may only be controlled by that service by modifying thespeed in increments of 25 percent. These rules may be stored in theappropriate adapter template and state machine rules logic. So, if thefan is currently rotating at 25 percent, and a user issues a voicecommand to increase the speed of the fan by another 25 percent,third-party service may send information to adapter service 310 thatindicates the speed of the fan should be increased by 25.

The adapter service 310 may then access the attribute mapping in theadapter template for the fan and discover that the available speedsettings for the fan that are supported by the third-party service are‘0’, ‘25%’, ‘50%’, ‘75%’, and ‘100%’. The adapter service 310 may invokethe device state machine logic in the adapter template to communicatewith the virtual device to determine the current fan speed. As notedpreviously, the fan speed attributes for the fan may be different fromthe attributes for the third-party service 304. For example, the fanmanufacturer may support speed settings of ‘0’, ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, and ‘4’.Thus, if the fan is currently operating at 25 percent, the adapterservice may receive a value of ‘1’ from the associated virtual device,which translates to the third-party attribute equivalent of ‘25’.Subsequently, device state machine 132 may access the third-party statetransition rules for the fan from the adapter template to determine thatwhen the fan is set to ‘25’ and a command is received to increase thespeed to ‘25’, the adapter service should set the speed to 50 percent(25 higher than 25 percent). The adapter service 310 may then translatethe property value of 50 to the device's equivalent property value(e.g., ‘3’) and send a command to the virtual device to set the speedproperty to ‘3’.

In some implementations, adapter service may then receive anotification/acknowledgment from the fan that the command was processedsuccessfully and forward that acknowledgment to the third-party service(operations 340 and 342), which may subsequently provide an equivalentnotification to the user via the user device and/or a remote controlapplication (operation 344).

FIGS. 4A-E illustrate various templates and their relationships,including a third party device type, a device template, a device ruletemplate and an adapter template, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 4A illustrates an example third party devicetype 402, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Thethird-party device type 402 is a template for a particular type ofdevice as represented in a third-party system. The example third-partydevice type 420 illustrated is for a variable rotation speed fan. Thethird-party device type 402 includes a name of the device type, adescription, and one or more property types. Each property type includesa skill, a base type, an xdomain and a yrange. The skill represents oneor more commands that may be issued on the property type. The base typeindicates acceptable property values for the property type (e.g.,integers, alphanumeric, Boolean, etc.). The xdomain includes acceptableproperty values for the third-party system and the yrange representsdefault property values for the WAN accessible services and/or OEMand/or device. In the illustrated example, the third-party device type402 includes first property type having a skill for turn on and turnoff, an integer base type, an xdomain of 0,1 and a yrange of 0,1. Theexample third-party device type 402 further includes a second propertytype having a skill for set percentage, increment percentage anddecrement percentage, an integer base type, an xdomain of 0, 25, 50, 75,100 and a yrange of 0,1,2,3,4.

FIG. 4B illustrates a portion of an example device template 401, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The exampledevice template is for an OEM entitled Acme, for model number ledevb,has a template name “Acme variable rotation speed fan”, has a templateID of 8103, and has a product name of “ceiling fan.” The device template401 may additionally include a base type (e.g., having an integer value)and one or more properties that may correspond to the one or moreproperty types in the third-party device type 402.

FIG. 4C illustrates a portion of an example device rule template 403, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The device ruletemplate 403 is associated with device type 402. The example device ruletemplate 403 includes a device type property that references thevariable rotation speed fan device type 402. The device rule template403 may additionally include default values for a concrete property, anOEM property, an OEM model property and/or a template version property.Additionally, the device rule template includes one or more intent rulesthat govern what commands the device type can receive and whatproperties to change based on those commands. Each of the intent rulesmay map a particular command or set of commands to one or more deviceproperties and one or more property values of the one or more deviceproperties. The intent rules may additionally include conditions thatmay govern when the rules may be applied. The intent rules mayadditionally include references to other rules to also apply and/or thatmust first apply before applying a particular intent rule.

FIG. 4D illustrates a portion of an example adapter template 404, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, theadapter template 404 is similar to the device rule template 403, butincludes customized configuration information that is based on a mergingof the device rule template 403 (associated with the third party devicetype 402) and the device template 401. The device rule template 403 andthird-party device type 402 may include default settings for one or moreproperties. These default settings may be replaced with customizedsettings as part of the merging of these templates with the devicetemplate to create the adapter template. Additionally, one or moresettings such as the yrange settings for one or more properties(property types) may be customized, replacing default values from thethird party device type 402 and/or device rule template 403.

FIG. 4E is a block diagram depicting template relationships, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodimentthe templates depicted in FIG. 4E may be accessed and/or generated by atemplate manager such as template manager 126 of FIG. 1, and utilized byan adapter service such as adapter service 131 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 4E, a template manager may receive a device template401 that includes attributes and behaviors supported by a connecteddevice as defined by the device manufacturer. The device template 401may be provided by the device manufacturer, may be entered by a userwith administrative access to the wan accessible service that supportsthe connected device (e.g., wan accessible service 130 of FIG. 1), or inany similar manner. For example, as shown in FIG. 4E, device template401 is associated with a variable rotation speed fan produced by OEM“acme”. The template manger, upon receiving a request to enable the“acme” fan for use with the third-party service “abc”, may search forany device types associated with the “abc” service that support avariable rotation speed fan. To provide access to the device by athird-party service (e.g., third-party service 162 of FIG. 1), thetemplate manager may identify third-party device type 402 thatrepresents the equivalent “abc” device type class (variable rotationspeed fan) for the device associated with the device template 401.Third-party device type 402 (as well as any other device types for “abc”service or other third-party services within the platform) may beprovided by the third-party service, entered by an administrator of theplatform, or in any similar manner.

As shown in FIG. 4E, and as described above with respect to FIG. 1, thethird-party device type 402 presents the “view” of a device with respectto interactions with the API of the third-party service or system. Here,third-party device type 402 includes two property types: propertiesassociated with powering on and powering off the fan, and propertiesassociated with setting the fan speed percentage. Additionally,third-party device type 402 includes associated actions that may beinvoked via communication with the third-party service to control thefan device. Notably, third-party device type 402 does not fully definethe functional behaviors of these actions, but only the components thatare to be invoked to execute those behaviors.

The template manager may then identify a device rule template 403 thatis associated with the third-party device type 402. As with thethird-party device type 402, the device rule template 403 may be may beprovided by the third-party service, entered by an administrator of theplatform, or in any similar manner. The device template may describe thephysical device using one or more device properties, while the devicerule template may describe one or more additional device properties ofthe device in terms of their relation to commands (e.g., such as voicecommands).

As shown in FIG. 4E, the device rule template 403 may define the devicebehaviors specified by the third-party service that may be used tocontrol the device using the third-party service. The device ruletemplate 403 includes the default property settings for the third-partydevice type and state transition rules in relation to those propertysettings. In some implementations, the device rule template 403 includesthe encoded state machine transition rules that are used to perform theapplicable device state transitions. Alternatively, the device ruletemplate 403 may include commands to access a data store accessible tothe platform where the specific device state transition rules may bestored. The device rule template 403 may be used as a default templatefor any variable rotation speed fan where the user wishes to connectthat fan to the “abc” third-party service.

Once a device rule template 403 for the device has been identified,template manager may then generate an adapter template 404 specificallyfor the “acme” variable rotation speed fan specified by device template401. As shown in FIG. 4E, adapter template 404 includes the propertiesof the third-party device type (from third-party device type 402), aswell as the corresponding property values associated with the “acme”variable rotation speed fan (from device template 401) and informationfrom the device rule template 403. Thus, the adapter template 404provides an association between the rules of the third-party service(“abc”) and the OEM (“acme”) device template.

When a device is added to the platform, the template manager maygenerate the adapter template 404 that can be used by the adapterservice (e.g., adapter service 131 of FIG. 1) to facilitatecommunication between the third-party service and the connected device.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of a graphical user interface for generatingadapter templates, in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As part of generation of the adapter template, a user may bepresented with a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a user toselect one or more property values for one or more properties of adevice. The selected property values may be the property values that areusable by the OEM and/or device. These property values may correspond toa data model used for the device by the OEM and/or WAN accessibleservices. The GUI enables adapter templates to be generated for devicesvia a configuration process, which may be performed without a userperforming any programming tasks.

FIGS. 6-7 are flow diagrams of various embodiments of methods forgenerating and using adapter templates. The methods are performed byprocessing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic,etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system ora dedicated machine), firmware, or some combination thereof. In oneimplementation, the methods may be performed by a server computingdevice 125A of FIG. 1 (e.g., by an adapter service 131 running in servercomputing device 125).

For simplicity of explanation, the methods are depicted and described asa series of acts. However, acts in accordance with this disclosure canoccur in various orders and/or concurrently, and with other acts notpresented and described herein. Furthermore, not all illustrated actsmay be performed to implement the methods in accordance with thedisclosed subject matter. In addition, those skilled in the art willunderstand and appreciate that the methods could alternatively berepresented as a series of interrelated states via a state diagram orevents.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment for a method 600 ofgenerating an adapter template. At block 605 of method 600, processinglogic receives a selection of a device template associated with aphysical device, wherein the device template comprises one or moredevice properties of the physical device. The device template mayinclude a first base device type (e.g., for a variable speed fan). Atblock 610, processing logic may determine one or more third-party devicetypes associated with the third-party system that a) have the first basedevice type value and b) comprise the one or more additional deviceproperties that correspond to the one or more device properties of thephysical device. At block 615, processing logic may generate a list ofthe one or more third-party device types.

At block 620, processing logic receives a selection of a third-partydevice type associated with a third-party system, wherein thethird-party device type comprises one or more additional deviceproperties of the third-party system that correspond to the one or moredevice properties of the physical device. At block 625, processing logicdetermines a device rule template associated with the device type, thedevice rule template comprising a first mapping between one or morecommands and the one or more additional device properties.

At block 628, processing logic may receive a configuration settingcomprising allowable property values for at least one of the one or moredevice properties. The configuration setting may be received via agraphical user interface, for example as part of an adapter templateconfiguration flow.

At block 630, processing logic determines a second mapping between theone or more additional device properties and the one or more deviceproperties. Determining the second mapping between the one or moreadditional device properties and the one or more device properties mayinclude determining mappings between allowable property values for eachof the one or more additional device properties and the allowableproperty values for the one or more device properties. At block 635,processing logic generates an adapter template comprising the one ormore device properties, the one or more additional device properties,the first mapping between the one or more commands and the one or moreadditional device properties and/or the second mapping between the oneor more additional device properties and the one or more deviceproperties.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment for a method 700 ofusing an adapter template to control a device. At block 705 of method700, processing logic receives a command for a physical device from athird-party system. At block 710, processing logic determines a currentstate of the physical device, such as by querying a virtual deviceassociated with the physical device. The virtual device may maintain acurrent state of the physical device.

At block 715, processing logic determines an adapter template associatedwith the physical device. At block 720, processing logic determines anaction to perform on a first additional device property associated withthe third-party device type based on the command and the current stateof the physical device, wherein the action comprises modification of thefirst additional device property to a first property value. The actionmay be an adjustment to one device property or to multiple deviceproperties and/or may be based on property values of one or more deviceproperties. For example, if the command was “set fan speed to 0%”, thenthe action may be to set the power device property to an “off” values.The action may depend on a current state of the device as represented ina state machine. For example, if the command is “increase fan speed by50%”, then the current fan speed would be determined from the statemachine before determining the new fan speed setting for the device andgenerating an action to adjust the fan speed property to that new fanspeed setting.

At block 725, processing logic generates a new command for the physicaldevice based on the determined action and the adapter template, whereinthe new command comprises an instruction to modify a first deviceproperty of the one or more device properties that is mapped to thefirst additional device property to a second property value. At block730, processing logic send the new command to the physical device tocause the physical device to modify the first device property to thesecond property value. Alternatively, processing logic may send the newcommand to a third party system that interfaces with the physicaldevice.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device 800having installed thereon instructions for an adapter service, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The computingdevice 800 is a machine within which a set of instructions, for causingthe machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein, may be executed. In alternative embodiments, the machine may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a Local Area Network(LAN), an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine mayoperate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in aclient-server network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a set-top box (STB), aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance,a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable ofexecuting a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a singlemachine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines (e.g., computers) that individuallyor jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. In embodiment,computing device 800 corresponds to server computing device 125 orcomputing device 135 of FIG. 1.

The example computing device 800 includes a processing device 802, amain memory 804 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or RambusDRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 806 (e.g., flash memory, staticrandom access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a secondary memory (e.g., a datastorage device 818), which communicate with each other via a bus 830.

Processing device 802 represents one or more general-purpose processorssuch as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. Moreparticularly, the processing device 802 may be a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,processor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. Processing device 802may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor,or the like. Processing device 802 is configured to execute theprocessing logic (instructions 822) for performing the operationsdiscussed herein.

The computing device 800 may further include a network interface device808. The computing device 800 also may include a video display unit 810(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 814 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 816 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 818 may include a machine-readable storagemedium (or more specifically a computer-readable storage medium) 828 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions 822 embodying any oneor more of the methodologies or functions described herein, such asinstructions for adapter service 131. The instructions 822 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 804and/or within the processing device 802 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 800, the main memory 804 and the processing device 802also constituting computer-readable storage media.

The computer-readable storage medium 828 may also be used to store anadapter service 131 as discussed herein above, and/or a software librarycontaining methods that call such an adapter service 131. While thecomputer-readable storage medium 828 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “computer-readable storage medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches andservers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include anymedium other than a carrier wave that is capable of storing or encodinga set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause themachine to perform any one or more of the methodologies describedherein. The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall accordingly betaken to include, but not be limited to, the non-transitory mediaincluding solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media.

The modules, components and other features described herein can beimplemented as discrete hardware components or integrated in thefunctionality of hardware components such as ASICS, FPGAs, DSPs orsimilar devices. In addition, the modules can be implemented as firmwareor functional circuitry within hardware devices. Further, the modulescan be implemented in any combination of hardware devices and softwarecomponents, or only in software.

Some portions of the detailed description have been presented in termsof algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bitswithin a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desiredresult. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physicalquantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take theform of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the followingdiscussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,discussions utilizing terms such as “determining”, “mapping”,“generating”, “receiving”, “resolving”, or the like, refer to theactions and processes of a computer system, or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented asphysical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registersand memories into other data similarly represented as physicalquantities within the computer system memories or registers or othersuch information storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments of the present invention also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the discussed purposes, or it may comprise a generalpurpose computer system selectively programmed by a computer programstored in the computer system. Such a computer program may be stored ina non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as, but notlimited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks,CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), randomaccess memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic disk storage media,optical storage media, flash memory devices, or other type ofmachine-accessible storage media.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding theabove description. Although the present invention has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, it will be recognizedthat the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but canbe practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification anddrawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense. The scope of the invention should, therefore, bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a selection of adevice template associated with a physical device, wherein the devicetemplate comprises one or more device properties of the physical device;receiving a selection of a third-party device type associated with athird-party system, wherein the third-party device type comprises one ormore additional device properties of the third-party system thatcorrespond to the one or more device properties of the physical device;determining, by a processing device, a device rule template associatedwith the device type, the device rule template comprising a firstmapping between one or more commands and the one or more additionaldevice properties; determining, by the processing device, a secondmapping between the one or more additional device properties and the oneor more device properties; and generating, by the processing device, anadapter template comprising the first mapping between the one or morecommands and the one or more additional device properties and the secondmapping between the one or more additional device properties and the oneor more device properties.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the devicetemplate and the third-party device type each have a base device typeproperty comprising a same first base device type value, the methodfurther comprising: determining one or more third-party device typesassociated with the third-party system that a) have the first basedevice type value and b) comprise the one or more additional deviceproperties that correspond to the one or more device properties of thephysical device; and generating a list of the one or more third-partydevice types.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the third-party systemis a third-party voice control system that receives voice inputs anddetermines commands from the voice inputs, and wherein each property ofthe one or more additional properties of the third-party system isassociated with one or more commands and comprises a property type andone or more property values that map to the one or more commands.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the adapter template is a three level objectthat encapsulates behavior of the physical device under control of thethird-party system as a state machine, wherein the three level objectcomprises a template level represented by a first table, a command levelrepresented by a second table comprising a first plurality of rulesassociated with the third-party system and a property level representedby a third table comprising a second plurality of rules associated withan additional system that interfaces with the physical device.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a command from thethird-party system; determining a current state of the physical device;determining the adapter template associated with the physical device;determining an action to perform on a first additional device propertyassociated with the third-party device type based on the command and thecurrent state of the physical device, wherein the action comprisesmodification of the first additional device property to a first propertyvalue; generating a new command for the physical device based on thedetermined action and the adapter template, wherein the new commandcomprises an instruction to modify a first device property of the one ormore device properties that is mapped to the first additional deviceproperty to a second property value; and sending the new command to thephysical device to cause the physical device to modify the first deviceproperty to the second property value.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe adapter template defines the physical device under control in termsof state machine elements, the state machine elements comprising aplurality of states, one or more rules that specify allowabletransitions between the plurality of states, and one or more actionsthat cause the physical device to transition between the plurality ofstates.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the device template describesthe physical device using the one or more device properties, and whereinthe device rule template describes the one or more additional deviceproperties in terms of their relation to voice commands.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein the device rule template comprises allowableproperty values for each of the one or more additional deviceproperties, the method further comprising: receiving a configurationsetting comprising allowable property values for at least one of the oneor more device properties; wherein determining the second mappingbetween the one or more additional device properties and the one or moredevice properties comprises determining mappings between the allowableproperty values for each of the one or more additional properties andthe allowable property values for the one or more device properties. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the physical device has a firstmanufacturer and is controllable using a first service of the firstmanufacturer, the method further comprising: receiving a selection of asecond device template associated with a second physical device having asecond manufacturer, wherein the second physical device is controllableusing a second service of the second manufacturer, and wherein thesecond device template comprises a plurality of device properties of thesecond physical device; receiving a selection of a second third-partydevice type associated with the third-party system, wherein the secondthird-party device type comprises a plurality of additional deviceproperties of the third-party system that correspond to the plurality ofdevice properties of the physical device; determining a second devicerule template associated with the second device type, the second devicerule template comprising a third mapping between a plurality of commandsand the plurality of device properties; determining a fourth mappingbetween the plurality of additional device properties and the pluralityof device properties; and generating a second adapter templatecomprising the plurality of device properties, the plurality ofadditional device properties, the first mapping between the plurality ofcommands and the plurality of additional device properties and thesecond mapping between the plurality of additional device properties andthe plurality of device properties.
 10. A system comprising: a memory;and a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, theprocessing device to: receive a selection of a device templateassociated with a physical device, wherein the device template comprisesone or more device properties of the physical device; receive aselection of a third-party device type associated with a third-partysystem, wherein the third-party device type comprises one or moreadditional device properties of the third-party system that correspondto the one or more device properties of the physical device; determine adevice rule template associated with the device type, the device ruletemplate comprising a first mapping between one or more commands and theone or more additional device properties; determine a second mappingbetween the one or more additional device properties and the one or moredevice properties; and generate an adapter template comprising the oneor more device properties, the one or more additional device properties,the first mapping between the one or more commands and the one or moreadditional device properties and the second mapping between the one ormore additional device properties and the one or more device properties.11. The system of claim 10, wherein the device template and thethird-party device type each have a base device type property comprisinga same first base device type value, wherein the processing device isfurther to: determine one or more third-party device types associatedwith the third-party system that a) have the first base device typevalue and b) comprise the one or more additional device properties thatcorrespond to the one or more device properties of the physical device;and generate a list of the one or more third-party device types.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the third-party system is a third-partyvoice control system that receives voice inputs and determines commandsfrom the voice inputs, and wherein each property of the one or moreadditional properties of the third-party system is associated with oneor more commands and comprises a property type and one or more propertyvalues that map to the one or more commands.
 13. The system of claim 10,wherein the adapter template is a three level object that encapsulatesbehavior of the physical device under control of the third-party systemas a state machine, wherein the three level object comprises a templatelevel represented by a first table, a command level represented by asecond table comprising a first plurality of rules associated with thethird-party system and a property level represented by a third tablecomprising a second plurality of rules associated with an additionalsystem that interfaces with the physical device.
 14. The system of claim10, wherein the processing device is further to: receive a command fromthe third-party system; determine a current state of the physicaldevice; determine the adapter template associated with the physicaldevice; determine an action to perform on a first additional deviceproperty associated with the third-party device type based on thecommand and the current state of the physical device, wherein the actioncomprises modification of the first additional device property to afirst property value; generate a new command for the physical devicebased on the determined action and the adapter template, wherein the newcommand comprises an instruction to modify a first device property ofthe one or more device properties that is mapped to the first additionaldevice property to a second property value; and send the new command toan additional service for transmission to the physical device, whereinthe new command is to cause the physical device to modify the firstdevice property to the second property value.
 15. The system of claim10, wherein the adapter template defines the physical device undercontrol in terms of state machine elements, the state machine elementscomprising a plurality of states, one or more rules that specifyallowable transitions between the plurality of states, and one or moreactions that cause the physical device to transition between theplurality of states.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein the devicetemplate describes the physical device using the one or more deviceproperties, and wherein the device rule template describes the one ormore additional device properties in terms of their relation to voicecommands.
 17. The system of claim 10, wherein the device rule templatecomprises allowable property values for each of the one or moreadditional device properties, and wherein the processing device isfurther to: receive a configuration setting comprising allowableproperty values for at least one of the one or more device properties;wherein determining the second mapping between the one or moreadditional device properties and the one or more device propertiescomprises determining mappings between the allowable property values foreach of the one or more additional properties and the allowable propertyvalues for the one or more device properties.
 18. The system of claim10, wherein the physical device has a first manufacturer and iscontrollable using a first service of the first manufacturer, andwherein the processing device is further to: receive a selection of asecond device template associated with a second physical device having asecond manufacturer, wherein the second physical device is controllableusing a second service of the second manufacturer, and wherein thesecond device template comprises a plurality of device properties of thesecond physical device; receive a selection of a second third-partydevice type associated with the third-party system, wherein the secondthird-party device type comprises a plurality of additional deviceproperties of the third-party system that correspond to the plurality ofdevice properties of the physical device; determine a second device ruletemplate associated with the second device type, the second device ruletemplate comprising a third mapping between a plurality of commands andthe plurality of device properties; determine a fourth mapping betweenthe plurality of additional device properties and the plurality ofdevice properties; and generate a second adapter template comprising theplurality of device properties, the plurality of additional deviceproperties, the first mapping between the plurality of commands and theplurality of additional device properties and the second mapping betweenthe plurality of additional device properties and the plurality ofdevice properties.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable mediumcomprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device,cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: receivinga selection of a device template associated with a physical device,wherein the device template comprises one or more device properties ofthe physical device; receiving a selection of a third-party device typeassociated with a third-party system, wherein the third-party devicetype comprises one or more additional device properties of thethird-party system that correspond to the one or more device propertiesof the physical device; determining, by the processing device, a devicerule template associated with the device type, the device rule templatecomprising a first mapping between one or more commands and the one ormore additional device properties; determining, by the processingdevice, a second mapping between the one or more additional deviceproperties and the one or more device properties; and generating, by theprocessing device, an adapter template comprising the one or more deviceproperties, the one or more additional device properties, the firstmapping between the one or more commands and the one or more additionaldevice properties and the second mapping between the one or moreadditional device properties and the one or more device properties. 20.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, the operationsfurther comprising: receiving a command from the third-party system;determining a current state of the physical device; determining theadapter template associated with the physical device; determining anaction to perform on a first additional device property associated withthe third-party device type based on the command and the current stateof the physical device, wherein the action comprises modification of thefirst additional device property to a first property value; generating anew command for the physical device based on the determined action andthe adapter template, wherein the new command comprises an instructionto modify a first device property of the one or more device propertiesthat is mapped to the first additional device property to a secondproperty value; and sending the new command to the physical device tocause the physical device to modify the first device property to thesecond property value.